Swot Analysis of "Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan" written by John R. Kennedy includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pantene Shampoo facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pantene Shampoo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pantene Shampoo operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pantene Shampoo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pantene Shampoo
Strengths Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pantene Shampoo in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pantene Shampoo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pantene Shampoo has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Pantene Shampoo is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Pantene Shampoo is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pantene Shampoo in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pantene Shampoo has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Pantene Shampoo is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High brand equity
– Pantene Shampoo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Pantene Shampoo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Pantene Shampoo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Pantene Shampoo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pantene Shampoo has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Pantene Shampoo has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pantene Shampoo in the sector have low bargaining power. Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pantene Shampoo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Pantene Shampoo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Pantene Shampoo is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John R. Kennedy suggests that, Pantene Shampoo is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, it seems that the employees of Pantene Shampoo don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pantene Shampoo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Pantene Shampoo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pantene Shampoo to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Pantene Shampoo has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Pantene Shampoo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pantene Shampoo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pantene Shampoo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Pantene Shampoo has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, in the dynamic environment Pantene Shampoo has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pantene Shampoo has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pantene Shampoo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pantene Shampoo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pantene Shampoo has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, is just above the industry average. Pantene Shampoo needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Opportunities Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Pantene Shampoo can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Pantene Shampoo can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Pantene Shampoo can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pantene Shampoo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Pantene Shampoo has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pantene Shampoo to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan case study. Pantene Shampoo can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Pantene Shampoo has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Pantene Shampoo to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pantene Shampoo can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pantene Shampoo can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Pantene Shampoo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pantene Shampoo can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Global Business segment.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pantene Shampoo in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pantene Shampoo can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pantene Shampoo can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan are -
Environmental challenges
– Pantene Shampoo needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Pantene Shampoo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Pantene Shampoo in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pantene Shampoo demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pantene Shampoo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pantene Shampoo high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Pantene Shampoo.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pantene Shampoo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pantene Shampoo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan, Pantene Shampoo may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Pantene Shampoo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Pantene Shampoo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pantene Shampoo can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Pantene Shampoo will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Global Introduction of the "New" Pantene Shampoo: Success in Taiwan is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Pantene Shampoo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.